How to Write a Business Case for Workplace Wellness

You know your team needs help. You can see the burnout, the sick days creeping up, the resignation letters that keep landing. But knowing it and getting budget for it are two very different conversations.

The frustrating truth about workplace wellness is that the people who need to approve the spending are rarely the people who see the problem up close. Your CFO isn't watching your best consultant stare blankly at her screen at 3pm. Your CEO isn't fielding the exit interview where someone says "I just couldn't do it anymore."

So you need a business case. Not a passionate plea. Not a wellness brochure. A proper, numbers-driven argument that speaks the language your leadership team actually responds to: money, risk and competitive advantage.

Here's how to build one that gets approved.

Start with the cost of doing nothing

The biggest mistake in most wellness proposals is leading with the solution. Your leadership team doesn't care about massage chairs or meditation apps yet. They care about the problem those things solve. And the problem has a price tag.

In Australia, the numbers are stark. Workplace stress costs businesses $14 billion annually through absenteeism alone. Presenteeism (when employees show up but can't function) costs another $34.1 billion. Every employee loses an average of 6.5 working days per year to presenteeism. They're at their desks. They're not working.

Then there's turnover. Research from Foremind shows that burnt-out employees are 2.6 times more likely to actively seek a new job, and 40% of resignations cite burnout as the primary reason. Replacing an employee costs between 50% and 200% of their annual salary depending on the role.

This is where your business case starts. Not with what wellness costs, but with what the absence of wellness is already costing.

What to include in this section of your proposal:

Make it specific to your organisation. Pull your own sick leave data from the last 12 months. Calculate your turnover rate and the cost of replacing those people. If you don't have exact figures, use conservative industry averages and flag them as estimates. A defensible estimate is better than a vague claim.

Our Spreadsheet of Truth does the maths for you. Plug in your team size and turnover rate and it calculates what burnout is costing your specific workplace. It's free and it's built for exactly this conversation.

Two professionals discussing a workplace wellness business case in a meeting

Show the return, not just the cost

Once you've established the cost of the problem, your next job is to show that the solution pays for itself. This is where most wellness proposals fall apart. They list activities and prices without connecting them to outcomes.

The research here is on your side. Australian Government Comcare research found that workplace wellness programs deliver $5.81 in return for every $1 invested. That's not a vague promise. That's documented across multiple Australian workplace studies.

The specific outcomes include a 25% reduction in sick leave absenteeism, a 41% reduction in workers compensation costs, and a 56% reduction in employee risk factors. Employee engagement jumps from 7% to 55% with proper wellness programs in place.

These are the numbers that make CFOs sit up. Frame them as projections for your organisation, not just abstract statistics. If your team of 50 loses an average of 6.5 days each to presenteeism, that's 325 lost productive days per year. If a wellness program recovers even a third of that, what's that worth in billable hours, output or service delivery?

Address the compliance angle

Here's something most wellness proposals miss entirely, and it's the section that can tip undecided leadership.

Since the Work Health and Safety Amendment Regulation 2022, Australian employers have explicit legal obligations to identify and manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace. Safe Work Australia defines these as anything in the design or management of work that increases the risk of work-related stress.

Mental health claims have increased 36.9% since 2017-18. These claims carry 3.7 times higher compensation costs than physical injuries, and the median recovery time is 34.2 weeks compared to 8 weeks for physical injuries.

A documented wellness program isn't just a nice thing to do. It's a risk management strategy that demonstrates your organisation is taking its WHS obligations seriously. Frame it this way in your business case and you'll have the compliance team on your side as well as the finance team.

Structure the proposal like they'd structure a budget request

Your business case needs to look like a document your leadership team is used to approving. That means structure, not storytelling. Keep the brand voice out of this one. Save the personality for the program itself.

The structure that works:

Executive summary (half a page). State the problem, the proposed solution, the expected ROI and the ask. Busy executives read this and nothing else. Make it count.

The problem (one page). Your organisation's sick leave data, turnover rate, and the estimated cost. National benchmarks for context. The TELUS Health Mental Health Index is a strong source here. Its 2024 survey of 3,000 Australian workers found that 47% feel exhausted every single day.

The proposed solution (one page). What you're recommending, how it works, and what it costs. Be specific. "A fortnightly workplace massage program for 30 staff at $X per session" is more convincing than "a wellness program." If you're proposing a broader wellness program with multiple components, outline each one with its own cost line.

Expected outcomes (half a page). Use the Australian research: $5.81 return per $1 invested, 25% fewer sick days, measurable improvement in retention. Apply these to your organisation's numbers. Show the breakeven point.

Risk of inaction (half a page). The compliance angle. WHS obligations, rising mental health claims, the cost of the next resignation. This is the section that turns a "nice idea" into an "urgent priority."

Implementation plan (half a page). How you'd roll it out, the timeline, and who manages it. Leadership teams say no to vague proposals. They say yes to clear plans with dates.

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Anticipate the objections

Every business case faces pushback. Plan for it.

"We can't afford it right now."Reframe the conversation. You're already paying for the absence of wellness through sick leave, turnover and lost productivity. The question isn't whether you can afford a wellness program. It's whether you can afford not to have one. The Spreadsheet of Truth makes this argument for you with your own numbers.

"How do we know it'll work?"Point to the research. The $5.81 ROI isn't from one study. It's from multiple Australian workplace analyses compiled by Comcare. Offer to run a three-month pilot with agreed metrics (sick leave, participation rates, employee feedback) so leadership can see results before committing long-term.

"Our team won't use it."Participation data says otherwise. Workplace massage programs consistently see 99% participation rates. The barrier to wellness isn't employee interest. It's employer inaction.

"We tried something before and it didn't work."Ask what they tried. If the answer is a meditation app or a one-off wellness day, that's not a wellness program. That's a gesture. Effective programs are regular, physical, and require zero effort from employees to participate.

Make it easy to say yes

The final piece of your business case should remove every remaining barrier. Include a clear next step ("approve a three-month pilot starting [date]"), a specific budget amount, and a named person responsible for implementation.

If you want the shortcut, we've built two free tools for exactly this moment. Our Convince Your CFO in 5 Slides deck gives you a ready-made presentation with the key stats, the ROI projections and the ask. And the Spreadsheet of Truth lets you calculate the cost of burnout for your specific team so the numbers are yours, not ours.

Your team is burning out. You can see it. Now give your leadership team the numbers to see it too.